Proud to see some of these images featured in the interview with Katharina by NYC-based Mischief Magazine.
Following my passion for documenting an artist creative process on film, I was obsessed of making this work with Katharina, a talented whole-hearted artist whose work I followed and admired on Instagram. From the first moment I knew I want this artistic soul captured on film to showcase her amazing work and to peek at the scene behind. How happy I was when she immediately responded and agreed to arrange a photoshoot.
I can't tell what a blast we had that day! Instead of 5 planned rolls I shot all 10 I luckily grabbed with me! The rolls were disappearing in my camera with fracture of seconds all because every moment was worth a snapped shot! Katharina is not simply talented and open-minded, she has a special energy and lots of humour. God, I laughed as much in one day as I would normally do in a month. She is the thrill!
She told me about her story and her roots, how art is filling up her life and how she combines it with her job in IT industry. Being myself similarly setup I know how difficult it might be to distribute your time between two jobs. In art Katharina recharges herself. From every piece of the created paintings you can see her obsession and love to what she is doing. Her paintings are exquisite, stunning and spectacular, the colours are rich and juicy, even in black&white. You can see the expression of her inner self in every brushstroke she makes on the canvas.
At the moment of the photoshoot she was working on one client emerald color painting and also I was honoured to witness how she begin creating a totally new deep-blue work which was going for an exhibition in autumn. We agreed these can't be shown until after the exhibition. I can't wait to see the complete work though.
When she started the new work, she was completely carried away with the process and thus I wouldn't bother her. She turned a rock'n'roll music and begin her dance with the wide large brush. OMG, what a moment it was, she was furious and elegant, confident and feminine, this was the best moment in the entire process. She was dancing in front of a large canvas like a ballet dancer. Nothing else existed in this world for her at that moment. After some brushstrokes she said she was done (whatever done means for the artists) and we took some amazing shoots with this piece of art. As a final touch she used the same paint on her face which was so creative!
Drawing a paint stroke can sometimes be a big act of courage. It may be something that radically changes the concept of the art work, or it can be a very small one, where the slightest change of pressure can ruin the ambiance.
As in life - words can entirely change the atmosphere. They can be ones filled with courage, they can be kind ones, they can also be hateful ones.
Her studio is full of fantastic details such as brushes, color palettes, all kind or artistic tools and even a cute Muumi's mag. The messy atmosphere is truly artistic.
Just like people, art should never be boxed in. We shouldn’t be labelled to only do one thing, as we shouldn’t tie paint to only canvas. The world is becoming more complex, but at the same time it is enabling new possibilities. Creativity should live and expand naturally, and the surroundings should be built to enable that.
There was so much fun and joy and the time passed too quickly. There was shooting and painting, eating pastries with coffee and laughing. If you ask me why I love doing this, I would probably say this: it's more than photography. It's even more than witnessing someone's talent. It's about the connection and sharing the energy. If a painter is expressing her soul and vision through the paintings I probably express mine through being a part of this process, witnessing it, being in connection with my model, learning about who they are and finally capturing it on my camera. It's the best reward for me.
I loved this project so much! When I received the scans from the lab I literally cried. I couldn't imagine they turn so real, so authentic, so rich and so beautiful! The lab did a fantastic job but without our team work with Katharina it wouldn't be as awesome. Being overwhelmed I immediately shared with my dear artist what we've got and her response was tremendous: "I've never felt so prettyyyy. I'm so so so blown away No one has ever depicted me as a person and my personality this well. I am a massive fan of the style, it's so ME." It was so emotional that I cried again. Could I ask for a better reward?
I didn't know what to write for this post in the beginning. No words can transmit the atmosphere of the time we spent together. I am neither a writer to express in words properly the incredible talent of Katharina, but I have a documentary to showcase. Hope the images below would resonate with you as well.
